A Price
by Hanazawa-kun
Summary: Au. The sealing of the Kyuubi went horribly wrong. When Naruto becomes Konoha's worst fear, one question can be asked. Will they learn to accepted him before it's too late, or will the Yondaime have sacrificed himself in vain?


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. I don't get paid for this. If I did I'd be more motivated.

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Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, looked on solemnly as his beloved village burned around him. No matter which way he looked at it he knew he could have never prepared himself for this site. They had tried, of course, to prevent this from happening completely. They had tried to stop that unstoppable force from reaching them, to protect the village from it's rage.

They were foolish.

It was human of them to hope beyond hope that they stood even the slightest chance against the Kyuubi. In the end, that was all it was. With the beast on a rampage, aiming it's immense hatred at Konoha... the was no way they would get out of it alive.

Minato knew he'd have to resort to _that_ technique.

Biting through his thumb and flashing through the following hand seals, the blond summoned the Toad Boss from across dimensions. No words were exchanged. Gamabunta had already been briefed on the situation and knew, if he was summoned, that there was only one option left.

The giant toad lurched forward, unsheathing his sword as he did so, to assult the rampaging fox demon. A second later, a burning claw sliced a scar down his face for his troubles and the sword was knocked away.

Gamabunta stood through the pain and braced himself as the Kyuubi charged.

**"Not to sound impatient or anything..."**

Minato nodded, his hands already blurs of motion, repeating memorized handseals. The seals on his body glowed as the Kyuubi brutally attacked the Toad Boss who barely managed to keep his ground.

The air grew cold, dropping in temperature as the wraith known as the Shinigami drifted into the mortal plane. From his gaping maw, his dagger was drawn, his free hand dripping into the back of the mortal before him. Through Minato, the Shinigami's hand reached out to snatch the soul from the beast.

The Kyuubi, having sensed the wraith, quickly retreated. **Mortal, are you so desperate as to attempt sealing me? **it snarled, lips pulled back in a malicious grin. **Fool, no mere object can hold me. My power is more than your feeble mind can even comprehend.**

"I know. In fact, I have a better idea." Minato smirked, despite the Shinigami steadily draining his life force. "Gamabunta."

The Toad threw himself at the Bijuu yet again, attempting to grab the monster. The Kyuubi danced out of his reach with a barking laugh. It would play this mortals game, letting time run out with this game of tag.

Gamabunta knew that, with his webbed hands, he wouldn't be able to hold down the fox. Unless he had something sharp to pin it...

Making quick hand seals, the toad drew in a breath. **"Suiton: Teppodama!"** he roared, firing a bullet of water from his throat. As the fox leaped away to dodge, Gamabunta made for his sword, one of the few things his webbed hands had no problem with.

With a silent battle cry, the Toad Boss launched himself at the Kyuubi, his sword flashing as it pierced the beast's right shoulder. The Kyuubi roared in rage and tried to shake the toad off to no avail. It was too late anyway. With the Bijuu in his reach, the Shinigami reached out to claim his prize. His hand passed through the fox's physical body with ease. The fox struggled to keep it soul, but in the end it's body collapsed into dust and it's soul was pulled into Minato.

For a moment, even the screams of the burning villagers was silent.

The seals on Minato's body began to glow brighter. The seals that mirrored the ones on his new born sons body.

As the life drained from his body, Namikaze Minato had one final hope. The hope that his son would be viewed as a hero for protecting his village from the threat of the Kyuubi. The hope that he would grow up with friends. The hope that he would love the village just as Minato himself had.

In the end, that's all it was.

* * *

The Sandaime, back from his retirement, watched as the seals across the babies body glowed brightly before receding into nothing. He sighed and took a small puff of his pipe. His weary eyes glanced to his left.

"Call back all available ninja from the battle field. This fight is over. Now is the time for rebuilding."

The hidden ANBU nodded.

"And gather all council members... I think it's time for a meeting."

The ANBU nodded again and vanished.

Sarutobi quietly went to his chair and sat down, puffing away at his pipe.

Not once did his eyes leave baby Naruto who, once the sealing was complete, stopped crying and turned his curious eyes to the old man.

The blue eyes of Namikaze Minato, nor the green ones of Uzumaki Kushina looked back at him.

In their place... blood red eyes stared through the darkness of the room.

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AN: I wanted to do more with this, but couldn't. I'm a bit tired, and hungry. I wouldn't have wrote it at all if the idea wasn't constantly nagging me. Anyway, this is basically a story about how things would have likely turned out with demonic sealing. Sealing an all-powerful demon into a baby doesn't not make a human. It creates a demon. Konoha is going to find this out. Still wondering about pairings since I know that's what most people want to hear about. I'll try to update when I can.


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